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Thursday, 16 October 2014

As you might've or might've not noticed, the blog's been on a bit of a hiatus ever since I moved back to Finland. My motivation had gone missing for a while but after some creative recharging, I'm back again and it's been great to see that the blog's had a lot of readers even though I've been absent myself. A lot has happened meanwhile. Nicki Minaj has dominated the internet with her huge hit single "Anaconda" which immediately garnered a memetic status due to its single artwork...

Personally I think that the Anaconda memes are the best thing to come out of the song. Although the fact that I actually have a friend named Michael who, if I'm not mistaken, used to ride motorcycles always make me smile. Don't know about that tower part, though.Elsewhere, Nicki Minaj (and Ariana Grande) collaborator Jessie J has tried to inch towards making their hit song "Bang Bang" her own solo effort by first ditching Nicki's...

...and then Ariana's vocals from the track. But nobody gave a shit, and rightfully so. Didn't she hear what Nicki said: "It's me, Jessie and Ari / If they test me they sorry". Tsk tsk.What else. Katy Perry's rumoured to be roaring at the next year's Super Bowl Halftime Show, and Madonna's forthcoming album still remains a mystery. One thing seems to be sure, though: while there's a list of artists who are rumoured/confirmed to be collaborating with Her Madgesty, hipster musician Ariel Pink is certainly not one of them - not anymore, at least. After criticising Madonna's musical output since her debut album (even dissing her iconic masterpiece Ray of Light!!) Madonna's manager responded with the following:

In other news, there's a also some really interesting new songs out there by some of the many artists previously featured in the blog. The British electronica duo AlunaGeorge, for instance, have released a new track called "Supernatural", presumably the lead single of the follow-up to the duo's 2013 LP Body Music. It's a fresh-sounding, retro-esqe house track that plays in the vein of their distinctive deep house sound with some new elements added into the mix. Unfortunately, it's only a 1-and-a-half minute teaser but gives a promising sampler of their future music nonetheless:

Another new lead single is "Froot" by Marina And The Diamonds. The disco-influenced anthem is super catchy and, thank goodness, its accessibility doesn't come at the cost of being almost aggressively ironic, which was a problem with her second album Electra Heart. Combining dance floor appeal with her typical theatrical approach, the track shares its title with the album which I'm definitely looking forward to. The lyrics compare the singer to a fruit, waiting to be picked by her "one true love" and ready for "Living la dolce vita". It's probably just a coincidence, but the opening line "I've seen seasons come and go / From winter sun to summer snow" reminds me a lot of a similar line taken from Naomi Pilgrim's sensational debut single "No Gun": "Seasons will come and go / Summer sun will turn to snow".

And speaking of Naomi Pilgrim, she too has a new song out! It bears the title "It's All Good", and is a more uptempo number compared to her three-track EP and the aforementioned debut song "No Gun". It's yet another great tune from her - come on, how come she hasn't landed a recording contract for a full-length LP release already? And if she has, I hope the album's on its way - I can't have enough of her music!

And then there's the incredible MØ who's released a collaboration called "No More" with the Swedish pop singer Elliphant, taken from the latter's latest EP of the same name. The synth-laden pop single is accompanied with a music video where the two are dressed up in Adidas tracksuits and light-up sneakers while sporting Geisha hairdos. The clip sees them embarking on a night out, getting wasted in a cab and dancing in a parking lot. Fun, erm, interesting fact: at 3:08 you can see Elliphant actually peeing on the street.

Well, there's some of my picks from the past weeks. Stay tuned, now that the blog's back on track again!

Who am I?

An indie enthusiast and music blogger from Finland in a constant search for proper pop music. In other words, get ready for a pop upheaval - or popheaval, if you will.
Contact me at popheaval (at) gmail.com